Sounds like the silly argument for the DH in baseball. One league in the entirety of the sport in the United States uses it but they're the ones in the right.
Don't make us send the Dream Team again that's all I have to say for the day about basketball. Here's something for your homework. This is the one set of rules that matters. There will be a quiz soon. http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_and_references.html
You remember correctly. Mexico beat them to clinch the last automatic place from the region. That was of course with amateurs though. With professionals the United States is much better. The big deal with some people is that it used to be America's national sport so they take the snub as anti-American.
Ah, back to the thread topic. If anti-Americanism means eschewing an event with (a) somewhat limited audience (b) no top flight players and (c) fairly expensive dedicated facilities, then we should all be anti-American.
Is cricket in or out? It's a comparable game to baseball and softball so if one gets to stay it does smack of favoritism, even though I agree it's not anti-American.
Olympic soccer teams do not contain any senior players either, so I'm not sure what the big deal is about sending college players or minor leaguers is, in itself. But yea, USA Baseball didn't care about the Olympics, so why should anyone else?
...I just wish they don't make freakin' golf into an Olympic sport. If they do, I'll start lobbying for darts, monopoly, and backgammon.
Cricket didn't even apply to be added as a sport (but it could still be an exhibition sport should the United Kingdom so desire in 2012). None of the five sports applying for inclusion in 2012 got the go-ahead. Squash and Karate were the final two candidates for replacement but both got voted down heavily. Karate lost 63-38. Squash lost 63-39.
Well, going by the "Why This Sport Shouldn't Be In The Olympics" test that I made up just two posts ago, soccer survives because it does have a truly global audience and does not require dedicated facilities - you can play soccer on the same field you use for field hockey or track & field, and the facilities will most likely have life beyond the 2 weeks. And you're right. NBA/USA Basketball cares enough about growing the sport to send pros to the Games. Baseball prefers to keep its season in tact. No biggie.
Thanks. And here's what I got from googling. So I guess this move is basically their way of saying if cricket is not an Olympic game, why should baseball and softball? Cricket and Olympics back in news http://sify.com/sports/columns/fullstory.php?id=13891484 Cricket applauds London 2012 bid http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/4658081.stm England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier has sent his congratulations to the London 2012 bid team after they secured the Olympics. Cricket is not an Olympic sport, but Lord's is set to stage the archery. Collier said: "We believe that London's win today will put sport high on the agenda in the coming years. "All sports, including cricket, will benefit. We are proud that Lord's, the home of the game, has been chosen to host the archery competition."
And curling, one of the oldest Olympic winter sports? What about that? Ever seen that rip-roaring festival? Man, the dude with the broom has got to be agile, fast, strong... "Dear, would you brew up some really strong coffee? I need to get excited here." *vacation starts today*
Not true. The olympic tournament has three senior players per side. Plus the U-23s on most olympic soccer teams are professionals. Just like most people in the WYC that just concluded have professional contracts. The exception was the United States and Canadian teams who have some college amateurs in the sides. However, give it a couple more WYC and both of these teams (well the United States at least) will have nearly completely young professionals.
The results of the last Oly basketball for the US was the result of picking a bunch of players but leaving out the critical component of a true point guard. The result was a bunch of guys standing around waiting to either shoot a 3 or drive for a slam. No one was creating anything. The problem was that all too many of the spoiled punks who have been fortunate to become multi-millionaires solely on the basis of their athletic skills, and that they were born in this country with this unique opportunity for unbelievable wealth, were too selfishly self-centered to make themselves available to play for "their" country. All of which only makes me appreciate Tim Duncan even more. So I will go out on a limb here; if one were to pick a balanced team of US-born players, they would blow away any other nation. Period. There are more excellent player/athletes in the US than any other nation. Unfortunately too many of them are also unappreciative of their very privileged position. Carry on...
Actually, the DH is used in pretty much every league in the US, except the National League. Still, the DH sucks.
Take curling off the list, and all other games that don't fit my definition of sport. I don't have a problem with that. Don't let Olympic game degenerates into a silly nonesense event. Enjoy your vacation!
The day pitchers are no longer treated like fine china and are taught to stop swinging like girls when at the plate is the day I will advocate the DH be abolished. Until then, use it. There's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be expected to hit decently just like everybody else on the field. As to the thread issue, the Olympics have for a while now been expanding to include far too many sports. Even non-sports (re: synchronized swimming). Time to cut back to the basics. This is a good start. Keep chopping away.
I could have sworn it originated in Scotland and is played pretty much everywhere around the globe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf
Where did this vicious, incorrect rumor about golf being adding as an Olympic sport get started? It was one of the five finalists for addition but it didn't even make the vote for the final two to replace baseball and softball. Although golf could be an interesting sport. The Ryder Cup is a fascinating event where people represent countries (although all the Europeans combine of course). Like the Davis Cup in tennis, it seems to be a natural leeway into Olympic competition. Very few week-to-week sports have as much an attachment to country aspect as golf. Only tennis might identify players more by country in commentary - maybe cycling too.
Taiwan's population is more than 4 times the population of Denmark. Venezuela is almost 5 times. I'm guessing all those countries don't count because most of the people in them aren't white. You already said size of economy doesn't matter, so that's pretty much all we're left with. The baseball countries you listed have a combined population of more than 68 M people. It is played through all of North and Central America and throughout the Pacific Rim. Is handball played outside Europe? (seriously I dont' know). Is table tennis taken seriously outside of China? I don't really care that much that Baseball has been removed. The olympics didn't have the best players anyway. But that is one less olympic sport that I will watch.
Total population of playing countries doesn't factor into the Olympics' requirements. What's needed is a geographic spread of countries that play at a reasonable level. Softball fails that test pretty easily, baseball is more marginal. I really don't think either should have been added in the first place; iirc they were added as a sop to Atlanta hosting. Another reason why baseball got dumped.